Golf/British Masters: Colin Montgomerie brandished a wedge in the face of a photographer yesterday, the latest and perhaps most unfortunate in a long line of incidents involving a man notorious for his short fuse.

It happened during the first round of the British Masters when the Scot was in the process of running up a double-bogey seven at the seventh on his way to a one-over 73.

He finished eight shots behind the surprise leader Peter Fowler and, for the second successive week, will struggle to make the cut. Raymond Russell, Jesus Maria Arruti, Marcel Siem and David Lynn were all one behind the Australian.

Darren Clarke, one of the game's great contradictions, and favourite for the title is six shots back on 71 while Peter Lawrie is the best of the Irish at three under par 69.

Paul McGinley got his game back on track with a two under-par 70 while Gary Murphy shot 72, Damien McGrane 75, Graeme McDowell 76 and Ronan Rafferty 78.

Montgomerie drove into a ditch at the seventh and when he got there asked the photographers to move, which they did. Then he requested that no pictures be taken and given that only experienced snappers were present, none were until after he had hit his first shot.

"Where's that gone?" he asked. "It's behind you," chorused the crowd and, oh yes, it was. He had another go and, after the ball had been struck, cameras clicked.

This seemed to infuriate Montgomerie who, waving the wedge no more than two feet from the photographer's face, said: "I thought I told you no more pictures."

Afterwards all the Scot could say was: "They're supposed to be professionals but they acted like amateurs, I'm afraid. It was not a happy situation."

The European tour did not take immediate action, either way. Mitchell Platts, the director of corporate affairs, said: "If Colin wishes to make a complaint, we will follow it up."

How's this for a job description? "Young man wanted to travel the world, work out of doors, usually in the sun, mostly in nice places. Colleagues will be pleasant and supportive. Some hard work required and GSOH an advantage. Hours - to suit yourself. Holidays - as above. Remuneration - if reasonably competent - £250,000 per year."

Nice work if you can get it, but it can lead to complacency and yesterday Raymond Russell confessed as much. The Scot, who finished joint-fourth with Justin Rose in the 1998 Open at Birkdale, has talent but has not allowed it to blossom.

"I've spent the last four or five years under-achieving," he said yesterday after his first-round 66. "I know how good I can play but you have to watch out on tour that you don't get in to a comfort zone. You can get into the mind set that there's always next week, and then there's the week after that.

"You can get a little bit lazy, finish 50th in the order of merit and pick up a quarter of a million or so. People dream about earning that sort of money but you have got to give yourself a kick up the backside sometimes and say: 'Are you going to be happy with that when you're 45-50, or do you want to be a winner?'"

The Scot has, in the past six years, averaged 56th place on the tour, and won almost £1.5m but only one tournament, and that in 1996. Now he wants more and, as he already knows, is good enough to achieve it.

Guardian Service

FIRST ROUND SCORES

BRITISH MASTERS

(at the Forest of Arden)

(Irish in bold, Brit unless stated, par 72, (x) denotes amateur):

65 -P Fowler (Aus) 66 - R Russell, M Siem (Ger), J M Arruti (Spa), D Lynn 67 J Sandelin (Swe), L Westwood, I Garrido (Spa) 68 S Khan, G Owen, A Coltart 69 - J Hugo (Rsa), M Cort, J Rose, M Lundberg (Swe), P Baker, C Rocca (Ita), J Lucquin (Fra), Peter Lawrie, P Golding, H Stenson (Swe), P Fulke (Swe), S Gallacher 70 - D Gilford, J Moseley (Aus), R Jacquelin (Fra), M Blackey, J Donaldson, C Rodiles (Spa), P Sjoland (Swe), S Kjeldsen (Den), S Luna (Spa), R Derksen (Ned), Paul McGinley, A Salto (Spa), R Green (Aus) 71 - M Brier (Aut), R Reid (Rsa), I Poulter, S Wakefield, S Dodd, G Brand Jnr, M Pilkington, B Rumford (Aus), P Archer, M Roe, G Emerson, M James, Darren Clarke, J Guepy (Fra), M McNulty (Zim), F Orest (Swe), M Mackenzie, K Eriksson (Swe), I Pyman 72 - A Mednick (Swe), D Borrego (Spa), M Angel M (Spa), S Lyle, B Davis, P Eales, N O'Hern (Aus), M A Jimenez (Spa), P Price, B Dredge, D Howell, J Larsen (Nor), J Berendt (Arg), C Gane, S Webster, J Bickerton, J Kingston (Rsa), D Fichardt (Rsa), J Elson, J Walters, G Birch, A Marshall, G Orr, E Little, Gary Murphy, C Wi (S Kor), M Santi (Ita), N Colsaerts (Bel) 73 - I Woosnam, G Clark, H Bjornstad (Nor), J E Morgan, F Roca (Spa), S Scahill (Nzl), F Widmark (Swe), G Havret (Fra), A Wall, R Wessels (Rsa), C Cevaer (Fra), M Gronberg (Swe), B Lane, C Montgomerie, C Schwartzel (Rsa), N Dougherty, R Rock, F Bisazza (Ita) 74 - Se Webster, H Nystrom (Swe), S Dyson, L Parsons (Aus), R Chapman, J Lara (Spa), J Rystrom (Swe), F Andersson (Swe), M Urquhart, M Farry (Fra), D Dixon, Sn Hurd, M Mouland 75 - J Lomas, R Karlsson (Swe), M Archer, M Olander (Swe), T Jaidee (Tha), S Gardiner (Aus), F Delamontagne (Fra), M Hastrup (Den), J Clement (Swi), M Ilonen (Fin), Damien McGrane 76 - B Mason, L James, K Ferrie, I Garbutt, D Park, P Dwyer, S Delagrange (Fra), G Rojas (Arg), T Moore (Rsa), M Eliasson (Swe), R Coles, Graeme McDowell, R Bland, T Price (Aus), (x) M Skelton 77 - T Johnstone (Zim), S Torrance, J Mellor, P Nyman (Swe), A Raitt 78 - D Lucas, R Sterne (Rsa), Ronan Rafferty, (x) D Skinns, P Broadhurst, J Hauwe (Fra), Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 79 - P Hedblom (Swe), B Barham 81- Forsbrand (Swe) 83 - D Drysdale Note: Peter Hedblom withdrew after first round.